The present invention relates to methods of guiding behavior of producers such as farmers to favor long-term rather than short-term economic results, and particularly to providing economic protections or incentives to producers to comply with best management practices. It has particular and immediate application to the growing of crops and other resources subject to damage from pests which develop resistance to the control techniques used.
Most agricultural scientists believe there are benefits to growing genetically-modified, transgenic crops with adjacent areas of non-modified but similar crops in order to delay the development in pest species of resistance to the modification. Such adjacent areas are known as xe2x80x9crefugesxe2x80x9d, and the practice or science is spoken of as xe2x80x9crefugiaxe2x80x9d. This refuge system has applicability to many pest and disease management techniques. A typical example is Bt corn, which is hybrid field corn that is modified genetically to express in the leaves and stem of the plant a toxin (a crystal-like protein, which occurs naturally in the Bacillus thuringiensis) that is generally fatal upon reaching the gut of the European Corn Borer (xe2x80x9cECBxe2x80x9d), Ostrinia nubilalis Hxc3xcbner, as the individual larvae feed. A very small percentage of ECB individuals in the current population, however, may have single or double genes for resistance to Bt toxin. Those individuals which survive feeding on high-dose Bt corn, believed to be normally only those with two resistant genes, then mature and reproduce. If these resistant individuals mate chiefly with other survivors also having two resistant genes, they pass pairs of resistant genes to their offspring. Then the numbers and percentages of resistant individuals in the pest population will grow with each generation. If the resistant survivors mate principally with ECB individuals not screened by the Bt corn toxin for survival, however, as by their feeding solely on non-Bt corn, then Bt resistance in the population will not grow so quickly. See, Ostlie, K. R., W. D Hutchinson, and R. L. Hellmich, 1997, xe2x80x9cBt Corn and European Corn Borer: Long-Term Success through Resistance Managementxe2x80x9d, pp. 11-12, North Central Regional Extension Publication NCR 602, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, Minn.
Providing refuges of non-Bt corn in areas of, or adjacent to, fields of Bt corn, to sustain a population of non-resistant individuals, is the recommended best management practice for delaying the development in ECB of resistance to Bt toxins. Five to 30% of the acreage planted in corn should be set aside for non-Bt corn, or 40% if the refuge area is treated with an insecticide if an infestation of ECB occurs during the growing season, according to such practices. Id., at 12. However, since on average the yield of non-Bt corn is 18% less than that of Bt corn, and can vary from the same to half the yield or less, farmers have significant short-term economic incentive to plant 100% Bt corn or other modified primary crop, not just 60% to 95%. They can and do violate label licenses and Federal Environmental Protection Agency (xe2x80x9cEPAxe2x80x9d) recommendations through various techniques, such as buying their Bt seed requirements from different suppliers to hide their non-use of non-Bt corn, or selling free seed given to them along with the Bt corn seed purchased, and the like.
An important reason for maintaining non-resistant ECB is that Bt toxin is a widely used organic pesticide, applied as a spray to control ECB pests. Spraying of Bt toxin onto organic corn is a traditional and irreplaceable use of Bt technology, which practice is threatened by the development of resistance in the ECB through widespread use of Bt corn.
Insurance products are just beginning to be used in agriculture to reduce or avoid the economic risks of reducing other sorts of inputs to crops. For instance, farm operators use commercial nitrogen to ensure adequate soil fertility for crop growth. Determining optimal nitrogen levels is difficult from one year to the next because of variability in weather. Producers are unsure of the optimum level of nitrogen needed at the time when they must apply the nitrogen. Therefore, producers will often use supplemental nitrogen, such as a double dose of nitrogen in the spring, to guard against any inability, as due to summer rains creating muddy fields, to make a second application of nitrogen if needed in July. This is a form of self-help insurance, an expense incurred to protect against a potentially greater loss of crop yield due to insufficient nitrogen. Such overuse of nitrogen fertilizer is a recognized and growing environmental pollution problem. Within the U.S. Congress and in the EPA, initiatives are underway to restrict nitrogen use. Reductions in nitrogen applications will aid in alleviating environmental problems and potentially save on farm production expenses, but risk of crop loss is increased. Prior to any such limitation on nitrogen use, a plan needs to be in place to reduce the risk of having insufficient nitrogen. Many practices have been developed and are recommended by various researchers and universities, but each such practice carries its own risk. Insurance products are now being proposed that would compensate for reduced crop yield arising because of insufficient nitrogen caused by following nitrogen reduction practices. These insurance policies create new incentives to encourage producers to limit nitrogen application, and the overuse of other chemicals, to avoid environmental degradation and risks to public health.
For instance, one reason that farmers put extra nitrogen into the soil in the spring is that rainfall may be such that a second nitrogen application in mid-summer, to boost the levels when needed, cannot timely be made. Insurance against excess rainfall costs less than the incremental cost of a double dose of nitrogen in the spring, and avoids the leaching of the nitrogen into ground and stream water and/or its passing into the air, which are known to cause serious environmental pollution. If more nitrogen is needed and can be applied when needed, as in July, then the insurance premium paid is xe2x80x9clostxe2x80x9d. If there is excess rainfall and nitrogen is needed but cannot be applied, however, the decrease in crop yield is covered by an insurance payment. In either event, the producer saves the extra cost of applying excessive nitrogen in the spring. Insurance policies for such purposes are being developed for testing in the spring of 1999.
No use of insurance to encourage use of refuges for delaying the development of resistance in target pest species is known. Alternative encouragement tactics of education, regulatory enforcement, license restrictions, provision of free non-Bt seed, and the like are not likely to prove effective even after several years"" use. The EPA has mandated a review of Bt corn practices in 2001, and may prohibit its continued use if Bt corn effectiveness is then gone or greatly declining.
A product warranty is a well-known form of insurance, usually provided by a seller of a product or service to ensure the purchaser that the product or service is not defective and will perform as stated. Warranties can often be extended by purchase of additional insurance from or through the seller or retailer, for instance. Warranties can benefit a seller by reducing the risk to the purchaser of the purchase, by providing information on the purchaser to the seller, and the like. Again, no use of warranties to encourage or protect refuges from non-use in agriculture for the above purposes is known.
An object of the present invention is to level the financial incentives as between using 100% of a primary asset in an area having a protective control technique and using in a sufficient portion of the area a similar but unprotected secondary asset; Bt corn is an illustrative example, used with non-Bt, hybrid corn as a secondary asset. Producers such as farmers want to use best management practices (xe2x80x9cBMPxe2x80x9d), but will tend strongly to maximize their short-term returns by planting 100% of the protected asset to avoid risks and losses, such as an average 18% loss of yield in non-Bt corn assets. A premium for crop insurance sufficient to cover damage to the yield of the secondary, refuge asset as compared with the yield of the primary asset is included in or is added to the purchase price of the asset, such as Bt corn. Alternatively, a warranty can be provided by a seller of Bt corn that hybrid corn from the same seller for planting in a refuge area will have the same yield as the Bt corn as against specific damages or loss of yield from ECB. Such financial methods will encourage producers such as farmers to follow the BMP for the primary asset, thus preserving the effectiveness of the protection or control technique for many years. Incentives to spray insecticides on the secondary asset when beginnings of infestations are seen are also removed, reducing environmental pollution, and preserving the effectiveness of the refuge strategy. Proper use of refuge acres is also encouraged, as insurance or warranty payments for any reduced yield may not be made if the refuge(s) used are insufficient in area, are set in improper location(s), or are defeated by Bt spraying, or the like.
According to the principles of this invention, a premium per acre required to warrant the performance of the secondary asset, insure a producer for potential yield losses on a secondary asset, is determined by a participating seller or insurance carrier or underwriter. That warranty or insurance may be sold to the supplier of the primary asset, such as Bt seed corn, and the cost is either included directly in the purchase price of the asset, is stated in a xe2x80x9ctechnology feexe2x80x9d paid with the purchase price, or the like. All such primary assets (as, all Bt corn) should carry such a premium, so as to avoid price competition between insured and uninsured (or warranted and non-warranted) primary assets. Exceptions may perhaps be made in certain defined xe2x80x9copt-outxe2x80x9d categories. Price competition may exist as among sellers or insurers practicing the invention, assuring best prices in particular areas depending on past infestations, percentage of crop planted in primary assets, and the like. Further, insurance may be sold and certified to individual producers or types of producers, who then can buy protected assets at an uninsured price, possibly limiting their own insurance premiums through better management practices than average or by agreement to some other loss determination system, such as actual, meter-by-meter input and yield measurements enabled by systems such as the Case ADVANCED FARMING SYSTEM(copyright). In either event, the producer will be the insured or a co-insured on the policy of crop insurance for the refuge area, or the protected party for a crop warranty.
The producer then will certify to the insurer or seller what areas are to be planted in the primary asset and which are a refuge for the secondary asset, as well as if needed the name and source designations of the primary and secondary assets. The insurer or seller should advise promptly if the plan does not comply with BMP and insurance policy or warranty requirements, particularly if benefits were to be denied in the first year on such grounds.
At an appropriate time, as in the middle of the growing season and/or when an infestation has taken hold, the producer or an expert will inspect the refuge for signs of pest infestation. A claim is then made to the insurer or seller if appropriate. An adjuster from the insurer or seller then inspects the refuge and may determine, first, compliance of the refuge with the plan and with insurance policy or warranty requirements. He or she then also if appropriate determines, as by stalk-splitting for ECB or other sampling techniques, the extent of the infestation and the amount of the damage to the secondary asset by insured or protected causes. The adjuster also preferably inspects the protected asset to determine the extent if any of development of resistance by the pest species in these areas. Damage and reduction in yield in the refuge area from ECB is known on the basis of tunnel lengths, and can be estimated by conventional techniques such as are used for hail and rootworm adjusting. If damage from covered causes in excess of the deductible (which generally will equal the cost of the Bt or like technology) is found, the loss is adjusted to equate with primary asset yield and price levels. Alternative manners and methods of adjusting for pest damage, such as xe2x80x9csentinel sitesxe2x80x9d in an area, may be used at less cost than individual field inspections, if found to be reliable. Adjustment of damage may be in cash at harvest time, in new seed corn for the following season, or the like.
Application of the method of the present invention will extend the useful life of pest control techniques, particularly in transgenic technologies, as against development of genetic resistance in the target pests to those techniques, by reducing the frequency with which resistant survivors mate with other resistant survivors. This invention is applicable to Bt corn, cotton, soybean, and other Bt crops, to potatoes, and to other plant and animal assets wherein refuges of similar but unprotected assets are now or are later found to be useful in protecting against longterm development of resistance in target pest or disease species.